WISCONSIN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD
Pastor Strey and St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church are members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Originally founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, WELS is the third-largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. As the name suggests, WELS congregations, schools, and agencies are strongly concentrated in the Upper Midwest, however WELS congregations are located in all 50 states and portions of Canada.
WELS is characterized as a traditional, confessional Lutheran Church, centered on preaching the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Savior from sin. WELS congregations and ministers preach and teach the historic Christian faith as confessed in the three Ecumenical Creeds — the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed – and in the Book of Concord, the official confessional statements of the Lutheran church.
WELS carries out world mission work in nearly two dozen countries around the world. WELS directly operates two preparatory schools that prepare young people for ministry at the high school level: Luther Preparatory School (Watertown, WI) and Michigan Lutheran Seminary (Saginaw, MI); the synod also operates Martin Luther College (New Ulm, MN), which prepares pastors, teachers, and staff ministers for ministry, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (Mequon, WI), which provides graduate training for its pastors. WELS congregations support and operate the fourth-largest private school network (kindergarten through eighth grade) in the United States. Several groups of WELS churches have joined together to form high school federations that support regional Lutheran high schools; St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Citrus Heights is a part of the federation that supports California Lutheran High School (Wildomar, CA). Wisconsin Lutheran College (Milwaukee, WI), a Lutheran liberal arts college, is also affiliated with the synod.
For more information about the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, please visit the synod’s website at www.wels.net.
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